


Patches and All

by TheBodaciousBro



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Be More Chill - Ned Vizinni
Genre: Angst, Everybody is supportive and loving, Fluff, I love my boys, It gets so fluffy guys, M/M, Michael is diagnosed with vitiligo, Michael needs protection and love, Oneshot, SO MUCH FLUFF, This is the longest oneshot i have ever written, This starts off hella angsty but gets super fluffy guys, Vitiligo!Michael, lotsa fluff, super fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 12:48:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11806317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBodaciousBro/pseuds/TheBodaciousBro
Summary: When Michael is diagnosed with vitiligo, he finds himself locked in a state of insecurity, as he worries about telling the SQUIP group. Especially Jeremy. As each day passes, more patches of his skin seem to change. And with each passing minute, he finds himself wondering what would happen if Jeremy found out. Not just about his viiligo, but about his feelings for him too.(Hahahahahahahhahahahahaaaaaaaaaa icantwritesummaries :') )





	Patches and All

**Author's Note:**

> Please do note, I did do some research on vitiligo before writing this fic. I didn't want to display it inaccurately, although I am sure there are points where I did.
> 
> I sincerely apologize if this has offended anybody with vitiligo, who disagrees with the writing I have pursued inside this fic. 
> 
> With that being said, I hope you enjoy! ♡
> 
> Stay bodacious my bros! ♡

It started off slow... Easy... Something Michael could manage. Something Michael barely even noticed, when it first started happening. But seemingly, each morning he woke up, the patches would seem so much larger than before.

"It's called Vitiligo." The doctor had explained to them-Mrs. Mell and Michael, who sat quietly (read: anxiously) inside the doctor's office after a few weeks of testing. Michael had zoned out during the generic description of the skin disorder, as he stared at the floor. "There is no saying if it will spread more, or if it will stop... But it appears as though-since there are more since our last visit, it may be continuing."

"How do we get it to stop?" Michael's head snapped up as he looked at the doctor in front of him with wide, brown eyes.

"We... Can't... But there are procedures we can take after your skin his finished developing that can cover the-"

"You mean plastic surgery?" Mrs. Mell stared at the doctor.

"I'm afraid so, yes..."

"No. Michael, I'm sorry sweetheart, but I will not allow it. We simply can't afford it, and it really doesn't look that bad. You'll be fine."

"Mom-"

"No. Thank you, Doctor Sherman."

"I wish you and your son the best." The doctor wished, as he nodded his head. "I will see you next week for another check up."

.∴.∴•✺•∴•∴.

Michael stared at his reflection in the mirror when he arrived home, his dark eyes dancing around his skin, like he was expecting a sudden splatter of white to take over his tan complexion. So far no patches had appeared on his face, directly, but as Michael stared at his reflection, he start to take notice of the coloring around his eyes, and facial hair: specifically the beginning of his eyebrows and the end of his eyes. They seemed lighter, and more patch-like, and some of the strands of his hair around that area seemed more... Grey, rather than their natural, dark look. He groaned loudly, and shut his eyes tightly as he pressed his forehead against the mirror. Give it a week or two, those strands of hairs will be white and the skin around his eyes will be white too...

As he drew back, he nervously bit his lip, trying to avoid his eyes from watering. He felt stupid for crying, but everything was happening too fast. He hadn't told anybody, besides his mom. Not even Jeremy, who was worried sick, after jokingly picking up Michael's phone and answering a call from the doctor's office, while they were playing video games:

"Hello, this is Michael." He stood up quickly, not bothering to pause the game, and Michael looked up from the game, his eyes instantly widening as a pause disrupted from Jeremy, his big dorky grin almost instantly dissipating.

"T-The lab results? What hospital-?"

Michael had never gotten up so fast in his life. He snatched the phone right out of Jeremy's hand, before Jeremy could even react: the boy frozen in shock from what he'd just heard from the other line of the phone, as Michael hung up on whoever it was, getting ready to yell at Jeremy, until he saw the look on his face.

Jeremy's eyes were wide and almost looked watery. "What lab results, Michael?" His voice was shaky.

"It's nothing Jeremy... Don't worry about it." Michael ran a hand down his face, with a small wince of stress.

"Michael... Please... You know you can tell me anything." Jeremy was seemingly begging Michael at this point, and Michael inhaled a long breath, slowly.

"Jer... I'll let you know if you need to worry about it, okay? I promise." Michael said, finally and Jeremy hesitantly nodded, understanding that he might need some time.

Michael quickly left the room, and redialed the number that Jeremy had picked up on, before a doctor told him it would be best to set up appointment.

And now, there Michael was, staring at his reflection in the mirror after being diagnosed, as he took a few deep breaths. It had started off so easy to manage...

Michael was finding patches of skin that seemed lighter on his stomach, under his arms and on his waist. They seemed fine, although it was confusing as to why they were there, until they had gotten so light that they were just as pale as Jeremy's skin. Michael had informed his mom, right away who set up an appointment. After two weeks of running lab tests, Michael was diagnosed. Vitiligo. A condition in which the pigment is lost from areas of the skin, causing whitish patches, often with no clear cause. It can effect patches of hair, where pigment is lost, and even eye color on very rare occasions.

Michael knew it was stupid to feel so self conscious. Jeremy would accept him for who he was... It was Jeremy, after all!

Michael bit his lip nervously as he stared at the floor of the bathroom, before he shut his eyes tightly. He could do this... He could tell Jeremy. It wasn't fatal, but it would of course effect his life, forever, right?

.∴.∴•✺•∴•∴.

It had been three weeks of missed school, and no Jeremy when Michael decided to do it. If Jeremy came over, he would instantly know something was up. Michael had played it off like he went to go visit the Philippines with his grandparents, but unfortunately, that was all, but the truth. Michael had locked himself in his room for almost three weeks, only leaving when he had another appointment. Throughout the time span, Michael found himself seeing a different reflection every time he looked in the mirror. patches of his hair, specifically the front of his quiff had turned white. around his eyes, had lost most coloring, leaving him just as pale as Jeremy in many spots on his face. The ends (not the tips) of his eyelashes on each of his eyes had turned white and the beginning of his eyebrows had turned white.

His nose had a small patch on the right side of his nostril, that took up half of it, before meeting his cheek, where it expanded outward, until it was about an inch off of his nose.

Around his lips, Michael had small patches of white, one going directly over the corner of his mouth, discoloring it significantly. The tips of his fingers had gone pale, and there were many patches around his body that Michael hadn't even chosen to look at yet. 

He needed to tell Jeremy. 

.∴.∴•✺•∴•∴.

Michael couldn't do it. He had stayed on the line with him for at least on hour, trying to, but every time he tried, he would get too quiet, or his thumb would hover over the: "end call" button on his phone. Finally, he managed something with a soft tone: "Jer... Can you come over? There's... Something I need to tell you." He stared at the ground, feeling his heart beating quickly inside his chest. "But... I think it would just be best if I showed you instead." He finally sighed, trying to force himself to relax.

All Michael heard after that, was: "I'll be right over."

The instant the line went dead, Michael shot up out of his bed, and raced to the bathroom, freezing when he saw his reflection. The hair would probably be the first thing Jeremy noticed. Almost the entire quiff had gone white, despite the sides. Just along his hair line, he could see his pale skin. He contemplated using his mom's concealer for five minutes, to hide the markings on his face, before he sighed, looking down. Jeremy deserved to know. He'd kept him on edge for the last month... Michael felt guilt starting to ebb up inside his chest. He wondered how stressed Jeremy must have been since that call.

He shook the thoughts away, quickly, before he pulled his hoodie up, self consciously, hiding his hair. He contemplated numerous tactics to hide himself from Jeremy: a bed sheet, his vintage Darth Vader mask, knocking Jeremy out with his plastic Thor Hammer from a Halloween costume when he was nine, upon arrival. As the doorbell rang, he recognized that he would just have to be himself.

He took a sharp breath, as he heard his mother open the door. "Michael is inside his room." She said, quietly. Michael heard Jeremy thank her, before the stairs to his room squeak under Jeremy's weight.

Michael took a deep breath, before he sat down on his bed. He could do this...

A small knock on the door, and Michael turned his head, looking at the floor, suddenly much more nervous than before. "C-Come in." Michael said, loud enough for Jeremy to hear.

Jeremy pulled the door open, and instantly was on top of Michael in a lunge-hug, both boys falling to the ground with "oof!"s, and even giggles from the both of them. It was the first time in a long time that Michael had actually felt something, other than anxious, self conscious, or sad.

Jeremy didn't pull away from the hug, his eyes shut tightly as he breathed Michael in. 

"I missed you too, Jer." Michael said with a small smile, but a hint of sadness was in his voice, as he sat up, Jeremy still clutched to him.

Finally Jeremy pulled back with a small, nervous laugh, given he had just tackled Michael to the ground, and held onto him for nearly five minutes. Looking at Michael, he froze, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Michael, your skin..."

"Yeah..."

"W-" Jeremy stopped himself, before he reached up, Michael flinching briefly, before stopping as Jeremy pulled his glasses off to get a closer look. Jeremy examined his face for a solid three minutes, before he set the glasses down, and reached up, pulling Michael's hood off of his head, revealing the white of his hair. "H-Holy shit, Michael..."

Michael had been looking down the entire time, too afraid to meet Jeremy's eyes, and far too anxious to even look at Jeremy's expression. His nose burnt as he started to feel more and more self conscious by the second.

Jeremy ran his fingers through Michael's white hair, before he heard Michael's voice.

"It's... All over my body, Jer..." His voice was quiet, and evidently self conscious, and Jeremy felt his heart melt at the sound of it.

"Michael, I-..." He took a deep breath, before he lifted Michael's chin so he was looking at him. "I think it looks super fucking cool!" He said, before giving him a warm smile. "Uhhh.... Vitiligo right?" Jeremy asks, completely mispronouncing the name.

"Vitil-eye-go. Yes." Michael said, before giving Jeremy a self conscious smile.

"Right, sorry." Jeremy said, sheepishly. "When... When did this... Start?"

"A few months ago, is when I first started to notice it." Michael said, as he looked down. "This was the call I got a few weeks ago." Michael spoke slowly, and Jeremy took every word in, nodding his head as he listened.

"Michael, I'm sorry... I wish I could've been there for you throughout all of that... It must've been really hard."

"No, Jeremy-ugh, dear god, why are you sorry? I pushed you away, I pushed everyone away... I was just... I was so afraid of what people might say, or think about it, and... I was hoping that it wouldn't spread to my face... But I guess that's just the unfortunate circumstances it has got to." He said, pulling his legs to his chest.

Suddenly Jeremy was hugging him again, and tighter than ever. "Michael... I think you look like a cooler version of storm from X-Men." He said honestly, and it made Michael's heart ache.

"Really?" He asked quietly.

"Hell yeah, man! You look like a cool superhero! And anyone who doesn't like it? That sounds like a them-problem." Jeremy said, as he still hugged Michael.

Suddenly a small sob burst from Michael lips, and Jeremy hugged him even closer.

"I was just so scared of people hating me, o-or treating me like I had some sort of contagious disease." He held onto Jeremy, as he cried, Jeremy taking his time to help do little things inside the embrace, like rub his back.

"God, Michael, I-I would never. Even if you did have some contagious disease." Jeremy snorted, like it could never matter. "I've got your back, player one."

At this, Michael sniffled a small laugh as he pulled back and wiped the tears off of his face. "Thank you Jeremy..."

.∴.∴•✺•∴•∴.

It had been weeks later, when Michael started going to school again. of course his mother had picked up his school work and everything, so he was all caught up. Jeremy would come over for study dates- (things both of them secretly wished were actual dates)- and helped him learn all the new stuff.

Today was Michael's first day back. His mother had offered to take him to the store and buy him a concealer for his face. Jeremy had also joined in on this. ("it wouldn't make you any less of a guy, Michael. Gender Binary is stupid.") And although Michael was grateful, he instead chose to go to school with a clear face.

And there Michael was, parked outside of Jeremy's house to pick him up. Jeremy had alerted the rest of the gang the situation so nobody would be shocked, and unsure of what to do. They had known for well over a week at this point, ("enough time to do your googling and research so you don't have to bother him about it") and Jeremy had messaged them all, saying he expected normal behavior around Michael.

Jeremy seemed ultimately more concerned than Michael, about it all, and Michael was sure that it was because Jeremy wanted things to be right, and Michael had seemingly prepared for the worst.

By the time they had made it to the school, Michael seemed to be having second doubts.

"Mikey? Hey..." Jeremy turned to him. "Take a deep breath. You can do this. If you really don't believe you can, we can always try again some other day, alright? I won't be mad. Nobody will be disappointed. If you don't think you're ready, don't force yourself."

Michael shook his head after taking a few deep breaths. "I can do this." He said, pressing his lips together in a flat line, before he put the car in park and pulled his keys out of the ignition. He exited the vehicle, Jeremy right by his side, both boys starting to make their way to the school. As they entered the cafeteria, Jeremy could hear Rich's voice:

"Guyth! They're here!"

Jeremy's eyebrows furrowed and he turned his head, trying to figure out what they were up to. He reassuringly took Michael's hand- both boys blushing a little, before Jeremy gave him a smile. "You can do this."

They made their way over to the table and instantly, Michael was greeted with hugs and "OH MY GOD WE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!"s, all of which made Michael's heart swell with undeniable happiness.

"Oh man... Thank you, you guys." Michael tried not to tear up, before he heard Christine.

"We have something for you."

Michael bit his lip nervously, before Jake pulled his bag off, and setting it in front of Michael. "We didn't really have wrapping paper, so this was kinda the next best thing." He said sheepishly, eliciting a giggle from Michael.

Jeremy looked at them nervously. He hadn't been told about any surprise present and he prayed that it wouldn't be anything too much for Michael, or something that would hurt his feelings. (Things like concealer, or skin care products...)

Suddenly a long: "Oh god..." rang out from Michael and Jeremy's eyes widened visibly. It took Jeremy a minute to realize it was a happy groan, and Michael's smile was bigger than the universe.

He pulled out a large, stuffed bear from the bag- this one covered in small patches that was made to look like vitiligo. It wore a shirt that said: "You are perfect just the way you are." and on the back, bold text that read: "We love you! - (with all of their names written under it.)"

Michael felt his eyes water, before he gave everyone a tight hug, extremely grateful for the gift.

"Oh! Hey, Mikey! If you squeeze the bear, it gives you recorded compliments from all of us. All of them are truth, and if you're ever feeling upset or self conscious, just give this bear a good old hug. That way you'll always know how much we love you." Jenna said, her phone up as she had been recording the entire thing.

Michael wiped a few tears off his face, which still had a huge smile plastered to it, as he thanked them all, once again each of them going in to hug him.

.∴.∴•✺•∴•∴.

Everyone at school was nice about it. Well, the only person who wasn't was Madeline, but Chloe didn't hesitate to make sure she wouldn't say anything about it ever again. Chloe was in detention for a week afterward, and Michael felt awful about it, but she reassured him that it was fine. ("That bitch has had it coming for way too long.")

Now, Jeremy and Michael were sitting inside Michael's basement, playing video games. The two were giggling, and things seemingly had gone back to their old routine. 

There were days when Michael felt so self conscious he didn't go to school, which was fine to both his mother, Jeremy and the group. Those days, the group would always send him compliments over the chat, and take him out for lunch after school, where they'd all hang out at a sushi restaurant or hang out at the park with a bag of taco bell.

Michael had been amazed how his friends all stuck with him, and stood up for him. They were all so kind, and gentle and amazing, and it made Michael heart ache. Speaking of heart aches...

"Rainbow road, Michael. Hit me with your best shot. I've been practising." Jeremy grinned from ear to ear, obviously feeling confident.

"Oh yeah?" Michael grinned, before he selected the map. "Alright, Heere. Loser buys the other a slushie." 

"Prepare to empty your pocket change, Mell." Jeremy spat, jokingly.

Jeremy lost. And after asking for a rematch, four other times afterward, accepted the lose, both boys sliding their shoes on so they could walk to Seven Eleven. It was a ten minute walk, Jeremy figured he would much rather spend the ten minutes walking with Michael, rather than the three inside Michael's car not talking as much.

The two boys along their walk, joked around. Everytime a car didn't seem to slow down at a cross walk the boys were halfway across, Michael would call out: "Bring it on, Fast and Furious! See who ends up paying for my college tuition!" Or something along those lines, Jeremy giggling and shushing Michael, quietly.

Michael would only grin and shrug his shoulders. He couldn't help himself.

As they made their way to the seven eleven, each of them joking around, about video games, and occasionally cracking jokes at people's cars, (specifically the old men going through a midlife crisis,) Jeremy yelped out as he tripped over a small pothole in the sidewalk.

Michael spun around quickly, ready to catch Jeremy, only to have Jeremy fall on top of him, taking both of them down.

Michael slowly opened his eyes. When he did, he saw Jeremy's, wide and staring back at his, Michael blinking a few times as he tried to put together how close he actually was to Jeremy, when Jeremy pulled away quickly. It took Michael a moment to register that Jeremy's lips had crashed into his when he'd fallen, and they had been having an inactive make-out session of smooshed together lips for the past minute of trying to figure out what had happened.

Jeremy was red, from his ears all the way to his chest, his eyes wide. Michael's blush was a lot less visible, but he was still blushing heavily, much like Jeremy.

"M-Michael I-I'm so sorry I-I didn't mean to- I mean- I didn't, but I totally wish I had meant to, b-but- ngh! Oh god, I-"

"Jer' it's fine." Michael said with a small laugh, as he tried to calm down a bit more, before his brain wrapped around what Jeremy had said to him. "Wait, what?"

"I-I mean- I just-I-Um-I-"

Suddenly Michael pressed his lips against Jeremy's and Jeremy squeaked, and soon the two boys were kissing each other. It was clumsy, but so, so unbelievably perfect. Both boys were seemingly having a hard time registering what was happening. A bold blush had graced both of their features, and neither of them wanted to pull away for air. Until:

"GET OUTTA THE WAY!" A loud yell came from a biker, who was moving quickly down the sidewalk. Jeremy and Michael scrambled to their feet, taking eachother's hand simultaneously and shifting off the side walk. Both boys took a few shaky breaths, Both from the scramble and the lack of air in their kiss, before Michael laughed, his heart beating a thousand miles a minute.

Jeremy joined him, soon after and the two glanced at each other, before turning red again. "God you're so perfect. You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." Jeremy managed as he stared at Michael, who blushed, before his lips twitched into a smile.

"Jesus Christ Jeremy, I've been after you since seventh grade." Michael laughs, as he rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly, before he smiled again, bringing their noses together.

"You... You have!?" Jeremy stated at him with wide eyes."

"Oh my god, you're so oblivious." Michael laughs, before the two boys kissed again. It didn't compare to their first kiss, but it was still perfect. Patches and all.

.∴.∴•✺•∴•∴.

Telling the group was a mix of: "CALLED IT!"s and "CUTE!"s and Jenna coming up with ship names. The two boys had blushed profusely throughout the entire confession- both boys holding onto each others hands. Nobody was really surprised by it happening, besides Chloe, who apparently had been convicted Jeremy was going to keep his feelings locked up until he was at least twenty, before jokingly calling him a "chicken shit".

The mention of chicken brought up a strange, in depth conversation about KFC, and if that really is chicken, or potential unicorn flesh. (because "what kind of chicken actually tasted that fucking good?")

Jeremy and Michael didn't fear kissing each other or holding hands in public. There were days where a slur would get yelled at them, but they would just yell one back, before giggling at each other's protectiveness over the other.

Things were good. Great, actually.

They rarely fought. And when they did, they would almost instantaneously apologize and tell each other how sorry they were and how it was stupid and they shouldn't fight about the said topic. 

Jeremy would have bad days, where he would find himself caught in a strong sense of PTSD from the SQUIP, and Michael was always there to calm him down when moments like that occurred. Michael had found himself keeping bottles of Mountain Dew Red inside the mini-fridge inside his room, that way if Jeremy ever needed it, he could access it, immediately. This helped a lot with stress that the SQUIP could potentially return- although Michael thought it seemed unlikely that it would.

Michael would have bad days too, where he would feel self conscious and unhappy about his skin, and his hair. Sometimes Michael finds himself at the store staring at Concealer and hair dye, until he recognizes that the dye will fade away and the concealer will judt make him feel worse when he takes it off.

Jeremy of course was always there for him in those moments, encouraging him to take babysteps to whatever will make him happy, so long as he knew that Jeremy thought he was perfect in every possibly way.

But the bad days always passed and the good days always started again.

.∴.∴•✺•∴•∴.

Michael stared at his reflection in the mirror, exactly a year from when he was first diagnosed. His brown eyes were examing every color and inch of the skin that wasn't hidden under his clothes, before he smiled.

His skin was perfect. Just the way it was. He couldn't help, but feel so unbelievably grateful that his friends and his boyfriend had helped him realize that.

School was over, and Michael was taking a decent break from It, before college. Jeremy and him were looking for an apartment together, knowing that the both of them were going to a college in the area.

Tonight, Jeremy was taking Michael out on a "special date" whereas they had to dress nice, and all that fancy stuff. Michael wasn't complaining. He adored Jeremy and all his attempts and was actually excited to eat at a fancy restaurant for the first time. ("Can I pull the classic movie scene, and gasp loudly, drawing all the attention from other costumers, before I grab the fancy cup of iced water and assault you with it, by pouring it on your face, stealing the breadstick and storming out!?" ...... "No?" "Aw..." "Come on, Michael," Jeremy laughed, before rolling his eyes.)

Things were amazing. Perfect, absolutely amazing. A year ago, Michael would have wished everything was different. But as Michael stared down at the ring inside his hands, before sliding it into his suit's pocket, he realized he wouldn't want it any other way. Patches and all.

**Author's Note:**

> I might make a oneshot series out of this? I MIIIGHT? maybe. Not so sure yet.
> 
> Any thoughts? I take Oneshot requests, you're welcome to comment somathose if you want! I'll write 'em with corresponding credit when I can!
> 
> Thank you for reading! ♡
> 
> Stay bodacious my dudes!


End file.
